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Arta - Application Note: No 1: The Arta Measuringbox
Arta - Application Note: No 1: The Arta Measuringbox
The ARTA MeasuringBox for easy setup of loudspeaker impedance and frequency
response measurements.
Typical, low cost measurement equipment for loudspeaker measurements with ARTA,
STEPS and LIMP should consist of:
1) High quality soundcard or USB audio device (i.e. Terratec EWX 24/96 or M-Audio
USB Transit),
2) Calibrated microphone (i.e. Behringer ECM 8000 or MBC 550),
3) Microphone preamplifier with calibrated gain control (i.e. Monacor MP102),
4) Power amplifier (any audio amplifier with volume control and output power 10-50W),
5) A switch box and cables for easy connections of audio devices.
Figure 1 shows a simple switch box - the ARTA MeasuringBox. It is intended for loudspeaker
impedance and frequency response measurements.
Note 1
Note 2
Safety
Power amplifier / loudspeaker ground and output low-level grounds are separated by a 1kOhm
resistance.
Do not use bridged amplifiers with virtual ground!
The soundcard input is protected by Zener diodes. The power amplifier is protected as described in
the manufacturer's manual. It means that you have to take care on the nominal loudspeaker
impedance.
Value
Plastic "Euro box"
Reference resistor 27 ohm/10W
8k2 (all resistors are 1%)
910
715
1k
Zener diode 4.1V / 0.5W
RCA jack - red.
RCA jack - black
Dual binding posts (red and black)
DPDT 6A switch
SPDT switch
A little math for designers or what is necessary to adopt box elements for special needs.
In the default configuration the box has the following operational characteristics. Resistors
R1, R2 together with soundcard input impedance Zin, form voltage divider r that is equal to
r = (R2 || Zin) / (R1 + R2 || Zin)
Maximal voltage that can be applied from power amplifier to soundcard line input reference
channel is equal to the soundcard_voltage_rms_sensitivity / k. Then, maximal_power that
can be used in measurement is equal to
maximal_power = (voltage_rms_sensitivity / k)2 / nominal_loudspeaker_impedance
For usual values Z = 10k, R1= 8k2, R2 =910 and voltage sensitivity 1V we get that maximal
power is equal to 29W/4ohm or 14.5W/8ohm.
If we have a power amplifier that is not able to deliver this power the voltage divider must be
lowered accordingly, alternatively if we want to make testing with higher power we must
increase voltage divider.
The value of resistor R5 has to be determined from the following expression:
R5 = R1 || R2 - Zout
where Zout is microphone amplifier output impedance.
This equation came from the requirement that both soundcard input channels are driven from
generators that have same source impedances. In this configuration we assume Zout=100 ohm
(i.e. a value for MP102 preamplifier).
Number
1
1
2
2
2
3
1
2
3
2
1
4
Label
SW1, SW2
PAD3, PAD4
PAD1, PAD2
X1, X2, X3
R Ref
R1, R3
R2a, R6, R4a
R2b, R4b
R5b
D1-D4
Article
PCB
Plastik Euro box
Switch
Terminal, black
Terminal, red
RCA jack, Print Metall
Reference resistor 27 ohm/10W
8k2 (all resistors are 1%)
1k
10k
1k8
Zener diode 4,3V / 0.5W